Simple Twist of Fate
by Settiai
Summary: Sometimes fate has its own ideas.


Title: Simple Twist of Fate

Author: Settiai

Disclaimer: "Doctor Who" and other related characters are all properties of the BBC and related corporations. No infringement is intended. This story, such as it is, was written as a sign of respect and love for the characters, the show, and their creator. I claim no ownership of the aforementioned show and characters.

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Sometimes fate has its own ideas.

Feedback: Comments and helpful criticisms are always appreciated.

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_Rose grinned at the Doctor as she squeezed his hand. "Are you going to tell me where we're going?"_

_He just shook his head. "I've already told you," he said, a hint of exasperation in his voice. "It's a surprise."_

"_You could at least give me a hint," Rose protested. "All I'm asking for is one little hint."_

_With a laugh, the Doctor leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "It's somewhere that you've never been before," he said, an impish glint in his eyes as he pulled away._

_She rolled her eyes. "That's not very helpful," she grumbled._

"_Rose, Rose, Rose." The Doctor's mouth twisted into a grin. "Would it hurt you to be patient?"_

"_Look who's talking," she muttered._

_His grin merely grew larger._

"Rose!"

Rose's eyes shot open, and she bolted up into a sitting position. "What the. . . ."

The six-year-old girl sitting at the foot of her bed waved at her. "I thought you'd never wake up," Sarah said petulantly.

Rose blinked a few times before her gaze finally focused on her sister. She stared at the little girl for almost a minute without saying a word, her mouth twisting into a self-satisfied smirk as Sarah began to squirm. Then she shook her head. "You're dead," she said simply.

Sarah let out a shriek and jumped from the bed as Rose grabbed at her. She darted from the room, not even pausing to look back.

Shaking her head in amusement, Rose pushed the covers off and slowly slid out of bed. She grimaced as a twinge of pain shot through her legs and into the lower part of her back. Biting back a curse, she reached out and grabbed the small table by the bed in order to steady herself. "I can do this," she whispered, taking a few deep breaths.

Rose heard footsteps making their way toward her room, and she quickly straightened up in attempt to feign normalcy. A few seconds later, Pete stuck his head through the open door, looking as if he had just rolled out of bed himself. "Your sister just ran screaming into our room," he said dryly. "Any idea why?"

"Not a clue," Rose replied, shrugging as she took a step forward. She immediately regretted the action, though, as the dull throb in her back turned into a sharp, stabbing pain. Her legs started to collapse out from under her, and she would have hit the ground if Pete hadn't leapt forward to catch her.

As Pete slowly helped her sit back down on the bed, Rose let out a shaky breath and reluctantly met his worried gaze. "I'm fine," she said. "Really."

He kept staring at her, and— although he didn't say anything— she could practically hear his unspoken "do you honestly expect me to believe that?"

Rose let out a sigh. "I'm not in the wheelchair anymore, am I?" she pointed out irritably. "So what if I'm still a little sore? I'm ready to move back into my flat."

"How bad is the pain?" Pete asked as he sat down beside her on the bed. "And don't even try lying. I've gotten pretty good at reading you, Rose."

She rolled her eyes as she slowly lay back on the bad. "It's really not that bad, Pete. I just got up too fast, that's all."

He eyed her for a minute, a doubtful look on his face, but he didn't argue. Instead, he simple stood up and offered her his hand. "Come on," he said as he slowly helped Rose to her feet, "since we're both up, let's go start some coffee before your mum comes down."

Rose froze at that. "You're not going to mention that I'm still having pain, are you?" she asked worriedly. "I'm grateful that you let me stay here and everything, but you know Mum won't let me go back to my own place if she thinks I'm not completely back to normal."

Pete squeezed her shoulder. "She's just worried about you."

"That won't stop me from going mad if I don't get out of this guest room," she muttered.

With a sympathetic smile, Pete offered her his arm. "Let's go get some breakfast," he said quietly. "If you're planning to move back into your flat today, you'll need to eat."

Rose hesitantly took his arm. "Thanks, Pete."

----------

Jackie rung her hands as she followed Rose out of the guest room. "Are you sure you're ready to move out?" she asked worriedly. "We're not using the guest room. You can stay here awhile longer if you'd like. Pete and I wouldn't complain, and you know that Sarah's thrilled to have you around."

"Mum," Rose said, rolling her eyes as turned around to meet Jackie's gaze, "will you please stop worrying? I'm fine, honest."

Jackie snorted at that, but she didn't reply. Instead, she merely pointed to the large stack of luggage that was piled outside the guest room's door. "How do you plan on getting all of this outside?"

"Pete can help," Rose said with a shrug.

At that, Jackie shook her head. "He's out with Sarah. They won't be back until late."

The younger woman rolled her eyes. "I don't suppose I have to ask whose idea that was," Rose muttered under her breath.

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

Nearby, someone coughed. "I think you know what she meant by that, Jackie."

Both of them spun around, startled looks on their faces as they found themselves staring at an equally surprised-looking Mickey Smith. "Sorry," he said quickly, "I thought you knew I was here."

Rose just raised an eyebrow, but Jackie took several steps forward so that she was standing right in his face. "You're here to help Rose move out?" she asked, though it was obvious that she meant it more as an accusation than a question.

Mickey shuffled uncomfortably. "Afraid not, Jackie," he said, looking more than a little relieved when the intensity of Jackie's gaze dropped. Then he looked past Jackie and met Rose's gaze. "It's sorta work related."

Rose blinked. "I'm still on medical leave," she replied, a puzzled tone in her voice. She flinched as she turned a little too sharply. "Remember? Alien attack, weird weapon. . . ."

". . . two-week coma," Jackie muttered. "Worry that she was going to be paralyzed for the rest of her life."

Mickey flinched. "I was there, you know," he muttered. "Trust me, that's not something I'm going to forget anytime soon."

"Sorry," Rose said sheepishly, "that's not how I meant it to sound."

He shot her a weak grin. "Don't worry, I know that you didn't." Mickey paused for a second before continuing. "We need to go to Cardiff."

A startled look appeared on Rose's face, but Jackie cut in before she had a chance to reply. "The hell you do," she said angrily. "She can't even stand up without being in pain. . . ."

Rose choked. "How did you know that?"

"Despite what you and my husband think, I'm not blind," Jackie shot back. Then she turned her attention toward Mickey again. "She can't even stand up without being in pain," she repeated, "so what makes you think she's ready to go heading off to Cardiff? And why the hell would she want to go to Cardiff anyway?"

Mickey rolled his eyes and pushed past Jackie, focusing in on Rose. "Something came through the rift," he said matter-of-factly.

This time, Rose visibly reacted. "But that's impossible," she said immediately. "The rift doesn't exist in this dimension. We've done tests and everything. The only reason we've got a branch of Torchwood in Cardiff is because the two of us convinced them to at least put a small team there, just in case."

"Tell that to the alien that fell through last night."

Jackie cleared her throat. Loudly. "So something came through this . . . rift thing," she said slowly. "Why does that mean Rose needs to go to Cardiff when she's _still injured_?"

Rose turned toward Mickey and raised an eyebrow. "She's right about that," she pointed out. "It's not like I'm the only person on the planet who has experience with aliens. I know that the Cardiff branch probably hasn't had many encounters, but we could always send someone from London to help them. Or even Glasgow." She paused for a second. "Well, maybe not Glasgow. He really is an odd one."

Mickey closed his eyes for a second. Then he opened them and met her gaze straight on. "Trust me, Rose, if what they're saying's true, you want to meet this alien face-to-face."

A puzzled look appeared on Rose's face. "Why?" she asked. "What's so special about this alien?"

"Apparently she has two hearts," he said slowly, his face expressionless as he watched Rose's reaction. "And when she arrived, she had a robot dog with her. One that she called K-9."

Jackie glanced back and forth between the two of them, an uncertain look on her face. "What does that mean?" she finally asked.

----------

Rose took a deep breath as she stepped out of the car. She immediately felt the muscles in her legs tighten as put her weight on them, and she quickly reached out to steady herself on the door. A few seconds later, Mickey stepped out and grabbed her arm in a steadying grip. "Maybe your mum was right about you not being up for this."

"If you even think about telling her that, I'll tell Jake exactly what you've got planned for him on New Year's," she whispered teasingly. "It would be a shame to ruin that big surprise you've been working on for the past four months."

Mickey glared at her. "You wouldn't dare," he hissed.

She merely smiled back at him.

Behind them, the driver's window suddenly rolled down. "Are you going to stand there all day?" Jake asked irritably. "I can't exactly go anyway while the two of you are leaning against the side of the car."

Rose laughed. "Sorry, Jake," she said lightly. "Mickey was just helping me catch my balance."

Jake's face softened immediately. "Do you need me to try getting you closer to the entrance? I could. . . ."

"I'll be fine," she said, cutting him off as she tentatively stepped away from the car. "We'll meet you inside."

When Jake glanced at him, Mickey nodded and tightened his grip on Rose's arm. "Go ahead," he said, "I'll make sure she gets inside."

Rose shot him an annoyed look at Jake drove off. "I'm not an invalid," she hissed.

"I never said you were," Mickey replied. Then he carefully began leading her toward the entrance. "They're probably wondering where we are, you know."

There was still an exasperated expression on her face, but she didn't protest at the support he was giving her. "Okay, let me sure I've got everything down," she said after a moment. "It's only a three-man team here, right?"

Mickey nodded. "Right," he agreed. "The leader's name is Costello. Susan, or Suzanne, or Suzie, or something like that. Then they've got a computer expert and some kind of doctor, and don't even bother asking me what their names are."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "And that's it?"

"Come on, Rose, what did you expect?" he asked, turning toward her. "It took forever to convince them to even start up a branch here, since— until two days ago— there hadn't been any sign of there being a rift in this dimension."

"You've made your point," Rose replied dryly. Then she paused for a second. "Have they found any signs of the rift since then?"

Mickey shook his head. "Not a one."

She bit her lip and glanced down at her hands for a few seconds. Then she sighed and looked back up. "Do you think she could possibly be a Time Lord?" she asked.

He hesitated for a second. "The Doctor said that he was the only one left," he pointed out slowly.

"He also said that the Daleks were gone," Rose said wryly. "Twice, actually."

"Good point," Mickey admitted. He paused for a second and then shrugged. "Why don't we go find out?"

----------

Rose glared at Owen Harper for the fifth time since she had met him a mere twenty minutes earlier. "If you don't get your hand off my hip in the next five seconds," she said coolly, "you're going to regret it."

He rolled his eyes, but he didn't argue as he did what she said. "She's down there," he said, gesturing toward a cell in the far corner.

She rolled his gaze before glancing back at him. "Did you really have to lock her up?" she asked with a tired sigh.

Owen just shrugged. "She tried to get that robot dog of hers to blow us up," he said. "What else would we do?"

Rose shook her head, but she didn't argue. "Speaking of which, where did you do with the dog?"

"Locked it up in the cell next to her," he replied.

She reached up and rubbed her temple. "Thanks for your help," she said, forcing a smile. "I'll take it from here."

Owen stared at her. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," she said a little more firmly than she had planned.

He shrugged and turned around. "If you say so," he muttered, walking off.

Rose waited for him to leave before she slowly started toward the cell at the far end of the room. She stopped at the one before it, freezing when she saw the robot dog everyone had been talking about. "Oh my god," she whispered.

She took in a deep breath, and then she kept on walking. As she came to a stop outside the last cell, she couldn't help but stare at the figure on the other side.

The alien was sitting on a bench built into the wall, a bored expression on her face as stared down at her hands. She looked to be in her late-twenties, though Rose was certain that she was older than that. "Hello," Rose said softly.

Inside the cell, the woman looked up in surprise. A suspicious look appeared on her face, but she didn't move from where she was sitting. "Hello."

Rose gave her a small smile. "My name's Rose," she said. "Rose Tyler."

The alien stared at her. "Romanadvoratrelundar," she said after a few seconds.

Rose just stared at her for a few seconds. "Of course it is," she finally muttered under her breath. "Roman. Romanad. Romanadvor."

At that, the alien smiled just a bit. "Romanadvoratrelundar," she repeated slowly.

Rose in took a deep breath. "Romanadvoratrelundar," she said hurriedly. Then her smile grew a little wider. "That's almost as bad as Raxacoricofallapatorius."

The alien woman slowly pushed herself to her feet. "You can call me Romana," she said. "It's a little easier to pronounce."

"Romana," Rose repeated, nodding. "Yeah, that's a lot easier."

Romana kept her gaze focused on her as she took several steps forward. "You don't seem quite as scared of me as the others have been."

At that, Rose flinched. "I'm sorry about that," she said sheepishly. "This Cardiff doesn't get very many alien encounters, so they didn't know exactly what to do."

"This Cardiff?" Romana repeated slowly, a suspicious look on her face. "I didn't know there were very many Cardiffs on Earth."

Rose ignored her subtle question. "They told me that the robot dog was with you when you came through the rift," she said. "And you called him K-9?"

Romana sighed. "We're back to that, are we?" she asked tiredly. She made her way back to the bench and sat back down. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you about the technology inside of him. You're not ready."

"I wasn't going to ask that, actually," Rose said calmly. "I was just going to ask if it was K-9 Mark I or K-9 Mark II."

Romana stared at her for a minute, complete shock on her face, before she jumped up and made her way back over to where Rose was standing. "Mark II," she replied. "How did you know?"

Rose tilted her head a bit. "You're a Time Lord, aren't you?" she asked, an almost awed tone in her voice. "He was wrong about being the last."

All of the color drained from Romana's face, but her eyes lit up. "He?" she repeated.

"Let me try to get you out of here," Rose said softly. "Then we can talk."

----------

"I still can't believe the Doctor's still alive," Romana repeated again, shaking her head. "I shouldn't be surprised, considering some of the things I've seen him do, but I still can't help it."

Rose smiled. "I'm sure he'd say the same thing if he knew you were still alive," she said quietly. "He really thought he was the only Time Lord left."

Romana's smiled faded a bit. "He almost was," she replied, her tone growing a little darker. "I still don't know how K-9 and I managed to go through a dimensional rift . . . especially without regenerating. Chance, fate, a fluke."

"And I'd like to know how you managed to find a way to slip through dimensions." Mickey cleared his throat as he came up to the table where they were sitting. He set down the tray of drinks he was carrying and then sat down beside Rose. "Especially since the Doctor told us it was impossible."

Romana shrugged a bit as she took the cup of tea he was offering her. "I'm honestly not certain myself," she explained. "All I know is that K-9 and I woke up after the final battle, and we were on Earth . . . except, instead of it being the Earth we knew, it was one where Neanderthals evolved instead of Cro-Magnons."

"But how did you find a way to leave?" Rose asked.

Romana smiled wryly. "Blind luck," she admitted. "We were in the right place at the right time, and we've been trying to find out way home ever since."

"How long do you usually have to wait somewhere before you can slip through dimensions?" Mickey asked, taking a sip of his tea.

"Usually a few months," she replied, a hint of tiredness in her voice. "K-9 can tell when the time's getting close, and we'll head toward the rift then. We only have a few seconds once it opens, so we have to be ready."

Across the table, Rose grinned. "A few months?" she repeated. "Then we'll have plenty of time to share some stories."

Romana stared at her for a moment, an uncertain look on her face. Then her eyes widened in comprehension, and she began to smile. "I'm sure we've both had some interesting adventures in ours pasts."


End file.
